A day off from the Tuk Tuks as Ella explores the local forest and community
My diary of a Tuk Tuk Adventure – Day 4
After a good nights sleep, but with a slightly sore head after the strawberry wine, we all enjoyed breakfast together over looking the green rice fields in a valley of mountains. The family running where we stay work so hard and provided so much food for us to build up energy for our trek today.
We’re getting used to Thai style food but still haven’t mastered spreading butter with a spoon rather than a knife on our bread!
Today our Tuk Tuks had a rest and Oa (one of the guide team and chief mechanic) spent the day checking them all and making sure everything was OK whilst we got to explore the forest and the local community.
First we went on a trek accompanied by a local guide from the village – a lovely man who seemed to know everything about everything in the forest – that was around 6 or 7km.
We walked into a misty forest as the local guide and Tony explained the different types of flora found here and how these people use the forests resources to live
It started to rain again but the ever prepared Tony seemed to magic some brightly coloured waterproof poncho’s out of his bag. For anyone who’s seen Doctor Who – well Tony’s bag must be Thailand’s version of the Tardis, how he keeps so much stuff in there I never did work out.
We all found it so funny hiking through the jungle dressed in the colours of the rainbow
Thanks to the rain parts of the trek were quite slippery but this all added to the fun and on the hike there was a huge waterfall that lead right down to a river in the village, we took many pictures and admired how stunning this hidden gem really was
As we made our way out of the forest we walked through some superb hills with them all covered in strawberry plants getting ready for harvesting in a few weeks (note to self – come back next time during strawberry season)
By the end of the hike we had made it back to the village where we were able to enjoy some locally brewed coffee that had been grown in the hills all around us. Delicious.
Later in the afternoon some of the group explored the village a little more – a really interesting place with very welcoming people – and others took the opportunity to relax on their balconies taking in the views and soaking up the atmosphere.
In the evening it was time for a superb evening meal right next to our accommodation where we feasted on local dishes with ingredients from the community all around us. And as we were eating and forgetting the names of yet more dishes, Tony got us all excited with details of what to expect tomorrow.
Another great day with fantastic experiences.